Alice in Wonderland merged with the Garden of Eden at the Centre for Women's 14th annual Gourmet Feastival & Silent Auction. Amidst conceptBAIT's psychedelic floral arrangements, more than 40 local vendors—including 29 restaurants—donated time and fare to benefit the multiprogram organization, which serves more than 3,500 women, girls, families, and elderly citizens in the Tampa Bay community. The center's services include counseling, personal growth and development classes,
employment preparation and placement, and substance abuse treatment. Lisa Richardson, the center's director of development and community relations, hired conceptBAIT to plan the event.
At this year's event, sponsored by Grand Gourmet, and CompuLink, guests wandered into a fantastical environment. The company suspended huge, three-dimensional foam flowers painted green, yellow, orange, blue, and red from the ceiling, and morphed the V.I.P. reception area into a tropical oasis of brown paper-covered vines, more foam flowers, and leaves anchored to red, blue, orange, and green spandex sheets. Real ferns sat along the base of the platform. Bay Stage Lighting Systems' pinspots brought the vegetation to life in a light bath of warm yellows, reds, and greens.
Guests politely elbowed each other to reach the seafood, chicken, salad, and sweets. Samplings ranged from Bonefish Grill's shrimp sautéed in lime tomato garlic sauce with kalamata olives and feta cheese, to the NoHo Bistro's focaccia sandwich stuffed with rosemary ham, fresh mozzarella, arugula, and sun-dried tomato. The 100-year-old Columbia Restaurant dished out its renowned chicken and shrimp paella, while 42nd Street, the Bistro presented a rich Cajun bowtie pasta packed with beef tip and andouille sausage.
The Blue Martini poured a steady stream of its namesake beverage. And Fine Wine & Spirits Warehouse, ABC Fine Wine & Spirits, and the Wine Warehouse offered reds and whites to complement every meal.
Guests were seated on chairs covered in conceptBAIT's decorative stretchform furniture covers, in green, purple, yellow, and fuschia. Centerpieces arrayed with sunflowers, roses, daisies, and mums topped each black-spandex-covered table.
For dessert, Chocolates by Cathi Lee served decadent morsels of chocolate-dipped strawberries and apples, while cake lovers indulged in Sweet Dreams Desserts' chocolate-ganache-layered chocolate cake filled with fresh, whole .phpberries. Indigo Coffee provided regular, vanilla- or hazelnut-flavored coffee.
Florida Fanfare Brass performed buoyant jazz in the Tampa Convention Center's lobby.
—Kathy L. Greenberg
employment preparation and placement, and substance abuse treatment. Lisa Richardson, the center's director of development and community relations, hired conceptBAIT to plan the event.
At this year's event, sponsored by Grand Gourmet, and CompuLink, guests wandered into a fantastical environment. The company suspended huge, three-dimensional foam flowers painted green, yellow, orange, blue, and red from the ceiling, and morphed the V.I.P. reception area into a tropical oasis of brown paper-covered vines, more foam flowers, and leaves anchored to red, blue, orange, and green spandex sheets. Real ferns sat along the base of the platform. Bay Stage Lighting Systems' pinspots brought the vegetation to life in a light bath of warm yellows, reds, and greens.
Guests politely elbowed each other to reach the seafood, chicken, salad, and sweets. Samplings ranged from Bonefish Grill's shrimp sautéed in lime tomato garlic sauce with kalamata olives and feta cheese, to the NoHo Bistro's focaccia sandwich stuffed with rosemary ham, fresh mozzarella, arugula, and sun-dried tomato. The 100-year-old Columbia Restaurant dished out its renowned chicken and shrimp paella, while 42nd Street, the Bistro presented a rich Cajun bowtie pasta packed with beef tip and andouille sausage.
The Blue Martini poured a steady stream of its namesake beverage. And Fine Wine & Spirits Warehouse, ABC Fine Wine & Spirits, and the Wine Warehouse offered reds and whites to complement every meal.
Guests were seated on chairs covered in conceptBAIT's decorative stretchform furniture covers, in green, purple, yellow, and fuschia. Centerpieces arrayed with sunflowers, roses, daisies, and mums topped each black-spandex-covered table.
For dessert, Chocolates by Cathi Lee served decadent morsels of chocolate-dipped strawberries and apples, while cake lovers indulged in Sweet Dreams Desserts' chocolate-ganache-layered chocolate cake filled with fresh, whole .phpberries. Indigo Coffee provided regular, vanilla- or hazelnut-flavored coffee.
Florida Fanfare Brass performed buoyant jazz in the Tampa Convention Center's lobby.
—Kathy L. Greenberg
Amidst concepBAIT's psychedelic floral arrangements, more than 40 local vendors donated time and food to benefit the Centre for Women's14th annual Gourmet Feastival & Silent Auction at the Tampa Convention Center.
Guests sampled gourmet dishes of shrimp and chicken and chicken and enjoyed a variety of wines.
ConceptBAIT morphed the Tampa Convention Center into an Alice in Wonderland-like space filled with oversize foam flora and fauna.
Florida Fanfare Brass performed buoyant jazz in the Tampa Convention Center's lobby.
